A Hardened Heart
by Dragon-Star155
Summary: Hardened by tragedies early in her short life, Duskpaw is mature beyond any her age. She is cold and distant, to the point of fear, to all those around her. Can one special cat show her that it is safe to love and dream once more? Rated T to be safe.


**A.N. - This is **_**sort of **_**my first Warriors fanfic. I posted the Prologue to a story called Outcast. I'm discontinuing that story because Ripplepaw's problem was too similar to Jaypaw's. I wanted to spend my time and effort on a story that no one could accuse me of copying ideas for. **

**The paragraphs in **_italics_**are flashbacks. I may do a few different chapters that have P.O.V.s from cats other than Duskpaw's, I'm not sure yet. Well, please R&R!**

**Sorry for the long wait. I'm re-uploading this because the formatting was all messed up. I'm putting up the Prologue and Chapter One together because….. Um…. Well, actually, I don't know why. Whatever. So umm…. Here it is.**

**For those of you who are just starting to read, enjoy, and to those of you who've read this before, I reread it if you want. Anyway, I'm going to work on Chapter Two as soon as I get this up. Enjoy!**

A Hardened Heart

Hardened by tragedies early in her short life, Duskpaw is mature beyond any her age. She is cold and distant, to the point of fear, to all those around her. Can one special cat show her that it is safe to love and dream once more?

Prologue:

Thoughts of the Past

A small, dark silver tabby slipped out of the den she shared with the other apprentices. The first light of dawn touched her sleek, shimmering fur. Her amber eyes flashed nervously as she gazed around the ThunderClan camp.

A large black apprentice glared at her from his position by the fresh kill pile. The scar he had given her on her tender chest still stung. She flattened her ears and crouched down timidly. She was spared from his fierce amber gaze as a pretty brown tabby padded over to him. They purred and chatted by the fresh kill pile for a long time. The silver she cat sighed as she tried to work out how to get around them and get a piece of fresh kill. Finally, seeing as how they were stretched out in front of the pile, she decided to skip breakfast.

"I'm not that hungry any way," she lied to herself, trying hard to ignore her protesting stomach. The thought of a whole morning of training with Adderfang on an empty stomach made her sick, but she couldn't go over near the other two apprentices.

The small she cat spotted her mentor, Adderfang, on the other side of camp. He was sharing tongues with his mate, Whitecloud. His grey-brown fur mingled with her white as he groomed her ears. Whitecloud was the only cat in the only cat that Adderfang ever showed compassion for; the large tom wasn't even too fond of one of his two sons.

The young apprentice thought of her freshest scar again. It seemed to sting every time she thought of her mentor or his son.

_Three cats sat in the sandy training hollow. The two younger cats sat facing each other, while a warrior sat in the position of a referee. He explained that this was going to be a mock battle, which meant that no claws or teeth were too be used._

_Duskpaw and Snakepaw nodded. Adderfang had agreed to train the young black tom for the day because the mentor of the black had a horrible stomachache._

"_Go," hissed Adderfang, signaling the start of the fight._

_The larger apprentice, Snakepaw, launched himself at his opponent. He dug his claws into her chest, causing her to shriek with pain. Duskpaw forgot about the no claws rule, and batted at Snakepaw's forelegs defensively, forming a few thin, shallow scratched on his legs. Adderfang snarled and ripped Snakepaw out of Duskpaw's reach, taking some of Duskpaw's chest fur and flesh with him._

"_No claws!" he snarled at his apprentice, pointedly ignoring the gash on the timid she cat's chest that his son made._

_The she cat whimpered, in too much pain to argue with her mentor. She gasped as pain flamed up in her bleeding chest._

_Duskpaw didn't get to the medicine cat's den until evening, by which time the exposed flesh was burning and stinging worse than ever._

Duskpaw flinched as she remembered that experience with her mentor and fellow apprentice.

Duskpaw whirled around as the branches of her den rustled behind her. Her fur bristled as a sleek tabby tom slipped out of the den.

His muscles rippled beneath his shiny golden fur, which glowed and flamed in the first light of the morning. His blue eyes glimmered, blue like the sky. Though his eyes were the same color as Hawkfrost's, the evil cat of long ago, you couldn't call them icy. They were pale blue, but they burned with the fires of warmth and friendliness. Sunpaw was the opposite of his brother Snakepaw, the black tom by the fresh kill pile.

Snakepaw was just like Adderfang. He was cruel, vicious, and bloodthirsty. He took every opportunity to dig his claws into a cat's flesh, not caring whether or not it was an enemy or a clan mate. Sunpaw couldn't be anymore different. He was more like Whitecloud, kind and gentle to the whole clan. He never killed or hurt a fellow cat if he could help it.

Sunpaw smiled and nodded to Duskpaw, she nodded a stiff greeting in return.

"Hello, Duskpaw," he purred. "Have you eaten yet?" His eyes searched her face carefully, his own face bright and happy.

Duskpaw gave a minuet shake of her head. She couldn't help but glance over at the tom and she cat still chatting, separating her from her food. A small, barely audible, growl escaped from her stomach.

The golden tabby must have noticed both because he meowed sympathetically, "I'll get you something to eat. I know my brother can be…" he trailed of vaguely, his face clouded for a moment with some strange emotion, before he padded over to the fresh kill pile.

Relieved that she wouldn't have to go hungry, Duskpaw flopped down right were she was. Unable to look away any longer, she looked over at Snakepaw and Bramblepaw, the pretty brown tabby.

Sunpaw promptly returned with a thrush and a mouse. He set them down and nudged the plump bird toward Duskpaw. She nodded quickly in thanks before gulping down the prey.

Just as she finished, Adderfang flicked his tail in a stern summoning and stalked out of camp.

The silver tabby shivered before bounding after her mentor without a word to Sunpaw.

Sunpaw watched the scared she cat bound off, his sky colored eyes glazed with regret.

Chapter One:

Two Moons Ago

Duskpaw bounded out of camp after her mentor. She only slowed down after she was right behind Adderfang.

"You will be training with Snakepaw and Bramblepaw today," Adderfang growled. Though Duskpaw couldn't see her mentor's face, she could only imagine the evil sneer that must have spread over his face. He seemed to get a sick pleasure from causing cats suffering, especially his apprentice.

Duskpaw's lip curled in hatred and disgust, but she kept all bad feelings out of her voice as she responded, "Yes Adderfang."

As they reached the sandy hollow that ThunderClan cats used to train their apprentices in, Duskpaw sighed in relief. They were the first ones there. But she felt sick to her stomach as she remembered the last time she had trained with Snakepaw and Bramblepaw.

_The three apprentices sat in a line, watching their mentors demonstrate a one-on-one-on-one fight. It was quite complicated and thy all focused intently._

_The smallest warrior, a pretty white she cat with greens eyes, used her superior speed to out maneuver the two bigger, clumsier toms. A burly grey tom used his massive size to overpower his smaller opponents. And Adderfang was just plain smart, and he used his wits to his advantage._

_From what Duskpaw could tell, in was very hard. You had to attack two cats at once, while watching for a moment when one of your opponents looses focus long enough to deal a good blow. She, being the smallest apprentice out of the three, would have to follow Whiteholly's example and dart in and out of the battle._

_As they finished, Stormcloud, the huge tom flicked his tail lazily in a signal to begin the fight. As for Duskpaw, she later wished he hadn't._

_Bramblepaw and Snakepaw both lunged toward Duskpaw. Bramblepaw swiped at her head and Snakepaw dug his claws into her shoulder. Duskpaw flailed franticly as she tried to swipe at both of the older cats. Neither of them ever lost focus, she was the only thing they had to focus on, and the young she cat found it quite hard to get in a blow of her own._

"_That's enough!" Whiteholly yowled, the outrage she felt apparent in her voice. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves! Two eleven moon old apprentices ganging up on a seven moon old! It's dishonorable and unfair! I would go so far as to call it the move of a ShadowClan cat! It's disgr-"_

"_Whiteholly," Stormcloud interjected sharply, "don't scold my apprentice. He is my own to train, and I feel that, though you have every right, there is no reason to scold Bramblepaw either."_

"_Yes," Adderfang added coolly. "Duskpaw needs to be toughened up. If I had felt anything was wrong, I would have interrupted myself. Or Duskpaw would have said something at least. Isn't that right?" his meow was cold and deliberate as he turned his glittering, vicious gaze on his apprentice._

_It was all Duskpaw could do to nod and continue on with the beating._

_Finally, Whiteholly called a halt to the training session, claiming that she and Bramblepaw still had to hunt for the clan, though she hadn't seemed to remember until Duskpaw was so weak from exhaustion she thought she would collapse. The young she cat wasn't positive, but she was almost sure that the white warrior's green eyes flashed meaningfully in her direction._

It had been Whiteholly that saved Duskpaw from terrible wounds that day two moons ago… But Whiteholly was gone.

_It was a few days after the incident during training. Duskpaw sat alone nibbling on a mouse by the camp entrance waiting for her mentor. She had been unable to train for a few days do to injuries and Adderfang, who had gone on patrol, had told her he had wanted to meet with her and the medicine cat, Meadowlark, when he returned to talk about her training._

_Suddenly Adderfang's patrol, which also consisted of Snakepaw, Bramblepaw, and Stormcloud, burst into camp. But the patrol was missing its fifth member, Whiteholly. All four cats had various scrapes and cuts, and they were splattered with blood. Stormcloud also had a deep gash on his neck, but other than that, they didn't seem to be seriously injured. Bramblepaw's dusty face was streaked with tears and it was easy for Duskpaw to guess was happened…_

_But something didn't fit as Adderfang told the story to Dawnstar and the rest of ThunderClan. The group had been ambushed by a ShadowClan patrol, and Whiteholly had died in the struggle. But if the battle had been fierce enough for Whiteholly, the noble, strong warrior, to die in the fight, then how did Stormcloud, who was not an exceptional fighter, get away with only a gash? Not to mention something strange that Duskpaw's super sensitive nose picked up. Though the patrol did smell like ShadowClan, they didn't smell like any particular cats, and they all claimed that they were in the shadows, so they couldn't identify the cats that attacked them. And what about the blood on their pelts? They all had there own blood, as well as some of the other patrol, but none of them had ShadowClan blood on them. But there was one cat's blood that was on all them. The blood of Whiteholly. But what Duskpaw thought strangest of all, had to do with Bramblepaw. The streaks on her face were obviously from tears, but Duskpaw couldn't smell the salty tang of tears, only fresh lake water._

_No one questioned the story. Adderfang and Stormcloud held a lot of power in the clan and Dawnstar believed them. It seemed that Duskpaw was the only one to find these signs obvious. The whole clan grieved that night, and the next day Bramblepaw received a new mentor, Darkstorm, Adderfang's brother._

There were only a few things that Duskpaw was certain of. One, Whiteholly would never be able to save her from her mentor again, and two, her death had to be related to that training session two moons ago, and three, that patrol wasn't telling the whole truth.

**A.N. - OK, so that was it….. I hope you liked it. I'll post the next chapter soon.**


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